I wanted to share my recent travel experience with others that have a love for European travel.My wife and I were traveling from Paris Nord to Cologne on Thalys before transferring to the City Night Line train to Prague.We were scheduled to arrive in Cologne at 21:15 and depart for Prague at 22:28 so a 1:13 minute layover.The train left Paris exactly on time but we had some still unknown issues while in route. We arrived in Cologne at 22:40 and our City Night Line Train had already departed.This is where our vacation nightmare began. It was almost 11 pm on a Saturday night and the Cologne Train Station had some really scary individuals hanging out in it. Thalys had no representative meeting the train or no one to help with questions. We were basically left stranded while trying to figure out our next move in a country that we had never been in a questionable late night train station. We were then victims of being robbed with someone creating a scene to divert our attention while someone else grabbed one of our small bags. It contained 4 of our credit cards and our Apple I Pad and other small items. Thankfully my wife had a debit card for cash and her American Express card on her or our situation would have been even worse. We were forced to find a hotel on our own with no assistance from Thalys whatsoever so we could contact our banks to cancel all of the cards. There was some sort of very popular festival in Cologne so the cheapest room we could find was 325 euro and we were obviously to upset to really sleep. We ended up the next morning on a Bahn train to Nuremberg then a bus ride to Prague. We ended up basically missing our entire first day in Prague but were really thankful just to be there. I have contacted Thalys customer service multiple times and they are only willing to refund 25% of our Thalys ticket from Paris to Cologne or around 17 euros total. They are refusing to cover the expense of the hotel as well as the cost of the City Night Line ticket. Has anyone else had any similar situations with Thalys customer service? I feel like we should not be responsible for the hotel expense or the cost of the missed train ticket. We were amazed at the lack of assistance from anyone from Thalys at the Cologne Train Station and from their customer service agents now.
Posted by
Tempe, AZ, USA
1266 posts
I'm sorry for your situation. Have your tried contacting you CC company and explain the problem and try to get the charge to Thalys reversed ?
Posted by
Northamptonshire, England
33837 posts
What did the Chef du Train say on the Thalys when you spoke to him or her before you arrived in Koeln?
Was your ticket from Paris to Prague all on one ticket, or did you buy a ticket from Paris to Koeln and a different ticket on the CNL from Koeln to Prague?
Or were you using a Eurailpass?
Posted by
California USA
4103 posts
Who did you purchase the CNL ticket from? You may be able to get that unused ticket refunded if you can show that your Thayls train didn't arrive at its scheduled time.
So sorry about your other middle of the night experiences from having a bag taken to having to find a room with an event going on in the city.
Posted by
Oxford, United Kingdom
5457 posts
If you were on two tickets you fall into a very hazy area regarding CIV terms and conditions but the way it tends to get treated is that the journeys are considered separate. On that basis, Thalys would consider its responsibility to have ceased once it delivered you to Cologne, albeit late. You probably could have got the tickets endorsed for onward travel - doesn't seem from your description that you got this.
Posted by
OP
7 posts
Joel,
I have not contacted my credit card company but I certainly will,thanks for suggesting!
Nigel,
The Chef du train called ahead to report that we had a connection and would be late, but we were told the train would not be able to wait for us even though we were only 12 minutes late. We did indeed have 2 separate tickets. Paris to Cologne on Thalys then Cologne to Prague on City Night Lights. Thanks for your reply!
Mona,
I purchased the tickets directly from the Bahn website,thanks for your reply!
Posted by
Toledo, Ohio, US
11613 posts
rcates, thanks for posting. So sorry about your losses, but it seems you took care of it as well as possible at the time.
Posted by
Washington DC Region, USA
7054 posts
I'm sorry about your loss (it sounds like a very unpleasant situation), but you're dealing with a business here whose only responsibility is to get you from Point A to Point B within certain rules and conditions (not what happens after the train drops you off at its destination). The title of this thread is technically inaccurate, as Thalys had no obligation to deliver you all the way to Prague safely - their contract ends at Cologne, then you're on your own. It's unfortunately not uncommon to have an unmanned train station after hours, I've been to several of those in Europe where there was no one around to help with anything (even when the ticket machines were not working). Too bad this station did not seem to have security around to prevent what happened.
I hate to say this because I feel for you, but the only aspect that's at all relevant here are the actual contract terms (Transport Terms and Conditions) that limit what Thalys is responsible for (in terms of not getting you to Cologne on time).
https://www.thalys.com/img/1443082501/pdf/faq/cgt-en.pdf
Page 18
For any delay to a Thalys train equal to or greater than 30, 60 or 120 minutes which is not due to a case of force majeure, Carriers will offer Passengers compensation in Thalys Vouchers or e-Vouchers with a value of 20, 50 or 100% respectively of the price paid for the ticket. Thalys Vouchers and e-Vouchers are valid for 12 months from their issue date. Passengers who want to receive compensation in cash will receive by bank transfer or refund to a credit card, 25% or 50% respectively of the price paid for the ticket, starting from the 60th or 120th minute of delay.
Since Thalys contract limits itself to 25% of the ticket price in the case of a credit card refund, one thing you should do is to check if your credit card (assuming you used one to purchase the ticket) carries any kind of travel insurance for your losses. That could be applicable here.
Posted by
Oxford, United Kingdom
5457 posts
Thalys Terms and conditions have to be read alongside the "Uniform Rules concerning the Contract of International Carriage of Passengers by Rail (CIV)". The relevant article is 32:
"The carrier shall be liable to the passenger for loss or damage resulting from the fact that,
by reason of cancellation, the late running of a train or a missed connection, his journey
cannot be continued the same day, or that a continuation of the journey the same day
could not reasonably be required because of given circumstances. The damages shall
comprise the reasonable costs of accommodation as well as the reasonable costs
occasioned by having to notify persons expecting the passenger."
The problem is that CIV was written in a rather different railway environment to what there is now and doesn't clearly handle the case of two separate tickets as if it were a single journey. In those days all journeys would have usually been considered single ticket.
Posted by
Northamptonshire, England
33837 posts
With two tickets it will be hard.
Thalys offers vouchers for late arrival, half of the ticket price between 60 and 120 minutes, but only half that amount if you want cash put into your account. That way, just like the airlines, they can encourage you to take vouchers which actually cost them nothing, and vouchers won't do much for you if you won't need them.
They don't commit to anything after that. They are not like an airline, and are not bound to anything else.
Their contract with you is to deliver you to the destination point. It doesn't even have to be a train.
To try to get hotels or the onward train out of them is likely to be fruitless, but I wish you luck.
Both Thalys and DB are part of the Railteam alliance who pledge to get you to your final destination by endorsing your ticket. There should have been a Railteam kiosk at Koeln. Did you go to the Railteam kiosk? I wouldn't have expected anybody to have met you.
As CNL is a DB owned subsidiary and DB is part of Railteam, you might have thought that the Railteam agreements would help you. But that's not true because Railteam is only involved with train services which reach at least 240kmh and night trains get nowhere near that fast.....
Sorry